The True Story of Little Red – Dawn McAndrews

Tess Van Horn Director	Katie Keaton Set Designer	Elizabeth Rocha Costume Designer	Emily Beggs Lighting Designer	Rew Tippin Sound Designer	Michelle Chesley Stage Manager

Cast (in order of appearance)

Alexandra Curren Red	Maureen Butler Granny	Mike Dolan Woodsman	Kevin Aoussou Wolf

From the Director

We’ve all heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Perhaps there’s a fond memory of someone telling it to you as a child or it’s the images from illustrated picture books, or cartoons, musicals, Loony Tunes. These iconic depictions of Wolf, Grandmother, Woodcutter, and Young Girl in a Red Cape are deeply imbedded in our culture. It’s easy to overlook the strangeness and deep-seeded darkness of the original tale. In fact, the origin of Little Red Riding Hood can be traced as far back as the 10th century when French peasants perhaps told the story to their young ones as a precautionary tale. The story has also been traced to Italy in the 14th century (Las finite nana aka The False Grandmother), and quite possibly in an “oriental” version called Grandaunt Tiger. Needless to say, it’s been around a long time.

The exciting thing about this new version is how we are able to see the story from each character’s perspective. It breaks down some of the old-fashioned ideas of Red Riding Hood and the Grandmother being victims and instead gives each character a strong voice with independent thought. It asks us to consider what it means when someone tells their side of the story. What is in fact “the truth”? When we are able to look at each person’s perspective with equal light we see that “truth” is a more complicated concept and often times the answers are somewhere in that gray area. It is hard and sometimes scary for us as humans not to see things in black and white, but perhaps we can open ourselves up to exhibit more compassion for all beings (even a “scary” wolf) and ultimately feel a deeper connection to the world around us.